My contribution to today's theme: 15 year old AMG edition

"AMGtech - now with more recalls!" (amgtech)
07/28/2016 at 19:38 • Filed to: None

Sorry not sorry to those who hate these. 2001 E55 AMG with 133xxx miles. Bought probably six months ago, which you can read about in some older posts of mine if you care and are feeling less lazy than me.

-Collapsed engine mounts, easy and inexpensive I’m just being lazy

-Intermittent CEL from the mass air sensor, more lazy though I have tried cleaning it which I knew wouldn’t work

-Needs an alignment, more lazy, especially considering our alignment rack is brand new as of maybe two months ago

-Intermittent SRS light due to faulty front passenger weight/occupant sensor, fairly easy and inexpensive, but all of the lazy

-De-pixelating instrument cluster, almost as lazy as alignment because parts are $20 and it takes me less than an hour

-???

The verdict: I still love it and 15 year old Mercedes can most certainly be reliable, you just need buy the right one...

DISCUSSION (24)

V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
07/28/2016 at 19:48

Is the passenger seat sensor something pretty common to Benzes? It's really annoying to have my SRS light going crazy whenever I have a passenger. The dealer wants like $1000 to fix it. Is that pretty reasonable?

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches
07/28/2016 at 19:54

It is very common from the late 90's to the mud 00's. $1000 does seem reasonable, especially for your car. The parts cost, guessing here, $3-400. And labor on your car is probably around 4.5 hours, just off the top of my head. S-class premium, due to extra functions and complexity. The seat cushion has to come completely apart to replace it.

RallyWrench > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
07/28/2016 at 20:03

Absolutely no reason to hate these. Laziness and apathy is why I let little shit go on my daily cars, for the most part. The last thing I want to do at the end of the day is work on my own stuff. This is also why I drive easy to work on beaters, my soon to be sold E46 excepted.

V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
07/28/2016 at 20:10

Is it possible to order new Designo parts ? The top of my wheel has a crack in the wood and I seem to recall somewhere that the wood is specific to each car and they keep some for replacement parts.

fintail > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
07/28/2016 at 20:53

Back when I had a W210 E55, my cluster started to go. Warranty (great investment) to the rescue - total replacement was something like $800, I think. I never had a MAF issue, which surprises me, as you know, they are a common quirk on these cars.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches
07/28/2016 at 21:14

Sometimes yes and sometimes no. You will have to check.

V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
07/28/2016 at 21:16

Son of bitch

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > fintail
07/28/2016 at 21:17

As far as I know replacement AMG instrument clusters aren’t even available anymore, so repair is difficult the best option. I’ve fixed a handful of them, and it’s actually pretty easy if you’re careful.

fintail > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
07/28/2016 at 21:19

As the car has been out of production for nearly 15 years, I bet you are right. I think mine was sent off for repair or a remanufactured unit was installed - it’s been nearly 10 years now, I can’t recall. The new one never had an issue. I can’t do soldering etc, so I wouldn’t have dreamed to have touched it myself.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > RallyWrench
07/28/2016 at 21:29

Oh by “these” I meant theme day posts. Otherwise yeah, totally on the same page. Normally I do drive beaters for that reason but damn do I like this car. Aside from that little list, my car is easily a 9.5/10, so letting little things go for a bit, especially when I don’t drive it much, isn’t a big deal.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > fintail
07/28/2016 at 21:30

It’s not really even soldering, it’s replacing ribbon cables that just have a heart activated adhesive. Found them on Amazon.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches
07/28/2016 at 21:31

Oh, and did I mention they’re obscenely expensive? Steering wheels that is...

V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
07/28/2016 at 21:46

Lol Not helping my mood man...

fintail > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
07/28/2016 at 22:01

I bet they didn’t even have those widely available back then. I remember I was missing numerous pixels on the gear indicator/clock and thermometer- drove me crazy. I’ve seen a lot of them with a similar issue.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > fintail
07/28/2016 at 22:17

Probably not. Pretty sure non AMG ones are still available though. And yeah, it drives me nuts too, but not bad enough to fix it yet.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches
07/28/2016 at 22:23

Lol sorry. You could probably find one that will work and look correct on eBay. Them having a backlog of wood trim is mostly for maybach and not so specific to steering wheels, it’s mostly for book matching/appearance purposes.

Kinja'd!!!

wacopalypsenow > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
07/28/2016 at 22:24

When you replace the MAF, don’t cheap out. Get OEM Bosch

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > wacopalypsenow
07/28/2016 at 22:27

Oh I know

*looks at own name*

Thanks though!

wacopalypsenow > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
07/28/2016 at 22:31

lol...what a jackass I am. I thought this original post was by someone else. I follow your words of wisdom myself

V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
07/28/2016 at 23:03

Ah. I need a 62S then...

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches
07/28/2016 at 23:27

And you think your repairs are expensive now! IIRC the 4yr/40k scheduled maintenance interval costs around $12k. The alternator costs about as much as you paid for your whole car. Plus you will need to hire a chauffeur because that is the only way a maybach is worth having.

V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
07/29/2016 at 01:45

Holy god.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches
07/29/2016 at 01:49

Do you feel like a lowly poor yet?

V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
07/29/2016 at 02:05

Im slumming it in a S600...drat